Thursday, March 31, 2011

After a long absence on the F3B/F scene, being very busy developping the popular and winning Pike Perfect product range, Samba Model is coming back with a new F3B/F plane. I have only few information, but I got 2 pictures of the very first prototype out of the moulds.

CNC molds,Wing span of 2,96 m. Total dihedral of the wing is 6°. V-tail dihedral 102°. Fuselage has removable nose cone. Ballast is located in the joiner and in ballast tubes behind the joiner. The total ballast is about 2000 gr.

As soon as I know more about this new item, I will keep you informed !

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

This video is from my friend Zhen and has been taken using a quadricopter and also a Rookie S from Graupner, both equiped with the same Go Pro HD. We are approaching the spring season, so the end of the ski season. A good reason to watch this very nice video !

Here are some pictures of the Viking 2. This one belong to Christian Maldini who came from switzerland to visit us during the last Ravioles Soaring. The orange is in fact fluorescent but this is not really visible on the pictures.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Last Saturday, I took my Vampire with me to the ravioles soaring, but unfortunately, I haven't finished the programming so I decided to not maiden it. However, I assembled it on the slope, just for it to meet some friends ;)

Maiden is planned for this week-end. I just need to fine some time to finish the programming and mixing.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Yesterday was the fifth and last Ravioles Soaring local contest of the winter season. 12 pilots met on the south slope of Montchenu near Romans sur isère. Weather was cloudy, with 8 to 12 m/s of wind. We have been able to do 6 rounds before the rain comes.

Again it truned to a fight between Yves Tirand flying a Vampire and me on the Ambrosia F3X. I started with bad flights, and finished better, but it was not enought to take the lead over Yves who was very competitive. I finished at 993 points, at the second place. Laurent Lombardo finished third with a Vampire.

Overall, Yves also win the Ravioles Soaring with 2999 points, followed by me aith 2993 points.

This local winter mini league has been very friendly and an excellent practice to prepare the season starting mid april. Still one month to practice and be ready !

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Vampire assembly continued with the wing servos installation. I installed 4 MKS DS6125 using the wood servos frame.

The wood servos frame is glued in place with the servos inside the frame, but with a thin plastic film in between. The reason is the when you glue a servos frame alone without the servos, there are some deformation occuring and then the servos forces to enter in the frame with the risk to defomr the skin. With the servos in place the frame stays flat and doesn't follow the camber of the wing skin.

Servos frames are glued using rapide epoxy. Don't forget to mask the fixation holes of the frmae with a very small piece or paper tape (pasking tape for peint).

The problem I encountered with the vampire is taht the command exit location is well inside the servos hole, so I had to shift the servos a little, with one the screw under the skin.

The command are made from M2 threaded Rod with metallic M2 clevises, and a 3mm diameter aluminium tube. M2 clevises are provided in the kit, and some of them have been milled to reduce their size to make them disappear under the skin once connected to the control horn. This is sexy but the disavantage is that the distance between the control horn and the rotation axis is very short, where the smallest play in the command or the servosis overdriven.

The first things to limit the play is to have also very short servos arms, what I did. consequently everything fit perfectly under the servos cover, unlike my other plane in the past.

If I can finish the assembly tonigh, I will do the maiden tomorrow :) !

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Vaclav Vojtisek is releasing a new plane for 2011, called Stinger and suited for F3B and F3F.

The Stinger has the same wingspan and similar planform than the Dingo. The root section has a thickness of 7.8% and camber of 1.6% and finishes at the tip with 7% of thickness and 1.5 of camber. It should be a fast plane ! Availability is announced for May 2011.